Work-holder for button-sewing machines.



G. S. GATGHBLL. 7 WORK HOLDER FOR BUTTON SEWING MACHINES,

APPLICATION FILED NOV.14, 1910.

Patented. Aug-.27, 1912.

nvmvm WITNESSES:

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ATTORNEY innrrnn sra rns arnnr GEORGE S. GATCHELL, OF ROSELLE PARK, NE'W' JERSEY, ASSIGNGR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A QORPORATIGN OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented A w 2'5, 1922.

Application filed November 14, 1910. Serial N01 592,178.

To all whom it may concern: I

Be it known that I, GEORGE S. GATCHELL. a citizen of the United States, residing at Roselle Park, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in erk- Holders for Button-Sewing Machines, -of which the following is aspecification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

This invention has for its object to provide a simple and effective device for opening a stitched buttonhole in the flap of a garment to permit .the stitching through the same of a button upon a flap beneath the same; and it consists primarily in a work-- holder comprising a button-clamp and a work-support disposed beneath the same and carrying means for opening or spreading the buttonhole.

In its preferred form, the button-clamp is formed with lateral buttongripping jaws and a button-sustaining member formed with an elongated and downwardly flaring recess or aperture in register with the perforations of the button, and the button-support or supporting plate has upon its adjacentface an elongated and upwardly tapering projection conforming in contour with the recess of the button-support and adapted to enter the same, or to crowd into the same the upper buttonholed ply of material to bend it into convex form for spread-- ing the buttonhole. The butto-nhole opening or expanding projection is formed with a central needle aperture .through which the needle passes in the formation of the button fastening stitches.

The invention will be understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a Singer cylinder-bed button sewing machine constructed in substantial accordance with that represented in the pending application of Charles M. Horton, Serial N o. 340 826, filed October 27, 1906. Fig. 2 is a detail sectional view of the work-holder and Fig. 3 a perspective View of the Work-supporting plate and the button-sustainin member of the button-clamp in snbstantiallythe relative positions which they assume when the workholder is open.

The machine is constructed with the base 1, horizontal substantially cylindrical workr in the needle 12.

supporting arm 2 extending laterally there-- from. and the bracket-arm comprising the standard 1* and the tubular overhanging the bearings 11 of the bracket-arm and car The oscillating shuttlc 13 a portion only of which is shown in Fig. 1), which is provided with the thread-ease 14*, moves in the shuttle-race15 and cooperates with the needle 12 in the production of the button-fastening stitches.

The work-holder in the present instance comprises a work-supporting plate resting upon the cover-plate 15 of the cylinder-bed and a superposed button-clamp. Thc work-supporting plate 17 is formed. in its upper or operative face with an elongated and upwardly tapering projection 18 provided with the central longitudinal needleaperture 19; and the plate is formed with a shank 20 provided with a series of steadypin holes 21 and a stud-screw hole 22 for passage of the stud 23 having the nut 24 for securing the same upon the reduced forward end of a bar 25 secured by means of the screw 26 upon the longitudinally sliding plate 2? by which it is guided in its endwisev ogg ng movements.

The slide-bar 25 carries end the block 28 in which is loosely mounted the forwardly proiecting arm 30 to the under side of which is secured by suitable means .the upwardly offset extremity 31 of. the

button-support shank. 32 having the central longitudinal slot 33 in its forward portion and provided with a downwardly ofiset rounded extremity 34 whose upper face affords a seat upon which the button rests, a central downwardly flaring slotor recess 35 being formed therein for passage of the needle and for assisting the buttonhole expanding projection 18' of the work-supporting plate 17 in spreading a buttonhole. Pivotally mounted upon the supporting arm are the button-clamping levers 36 conforming in general shape with the buttonsupporc shank 32 and overlying the same and near its rearward formed at their extremities with opposed clamping jaws 37 having in their adjacent edges the button-receiving notches 38 which embrace the edges of the buttons 6, as represented in Figs. 1 and 2. The buttonclalmping levers 36 are provided 'with any suitable or usual means for imparting their reciprocal opening and closing movements in gripping a button, and have arranged between them an arm 39 whose forward extremity affords a stop 40 for engaging the inner side of the button-edge.

The slide-bar 25, block 28 and arm 30 constitute a sliding frame or carrier for the worksupporting plate and the superposed buttonclamp which in the present instance compose the work-holder. The slide-bar 25 has rigidly secured to its rearward end the upwardly projecting rod 41 upon which is adjustably secured by means of the clamp-screw 42 the slide-block 43 fitted within a radial channel way 44 of a crank-arm 45 fixed upon one end of a rock-shaft mounted within the stationary bearing 46 and carrying an upwardly ext-ending arm 47 provided with a stud 48 which enters a cam-groove 49 in the forward face of the cam-wheel 50, provided with suitable actuating means, whereby the slide-bar 25, and hence the work-holder, re-

ceives the requisite jogging movements to enable the needle to enter alternately different holes of the button to receive the fastening stitches.

The button-clamp is normally pressed downward by means of a fiat spring 51 secured in position by means of the bolt 29 and having its free end restin upon the arm 30, which latter has upon its forward end a post 52 with a lateral projection 53 beneathwhich extends a rigid arm 54 car ried by thelower end of, the rod 55 normally depressed by means of the sprin 56.

In the normal operation of the mac ine, the bar 55 is elevated to engagethe arm 54 5 with the member 53 of the post 52, thereby lifting the button-clamp inwhich is placed the button I) tobe sewed on. The button flap m is then laid upon the work-supporting plate 17 and the buttonhole flap 11. superposed thereon with its buttonhole n arranged beneath and centrally of the holes in the button through which the stitches are to be formed. The lifting bar 55 is then lowered and the button-clamp permitted to rest upon the superposed layers of fabric which are forced upwardly by the tapering projection 18 of the supporting plate 17 into the flaring aperture 35 of the buttonsupport 34. By this means, both fabrics are clampedfirmly between the margin of the aperture 35 in the button-support and the portion of the work-supporting plate 17 around the button-hole expanding projec tion 18, While the indentation of the intervening fabricsby the projection 18 causes the stretching of the same, and this action is obviously greater upon the upper buttonhole ply than the lower ply, thereby, not only opening the buttonhole, but spreading the upper edges thereof more than the lower, so as to produce an upward flare in the buttonhole to insure against the catching of the needle point upon the covering stitches;

One of the chief advantages of this device is the provision of means applicable to a well known form of work-holder for flatbutton sewing machines, such as that represented in the said patent application of C. M. Horton and in the Patent No. 807,676, of December 19, 1905, which, while eifeetively performing its function, requires no extra parts, and adds nothing whatever to the mechanism of the machine.

Although the improvement is evidently machines, it is speciallyuseful as. embodied in the work-holders of cylinder-bed ma-- chines, as represented in the accompanying drawings, as the class of work for which it is designed is chiefly previously laundered garments, such as dress-shirts and other hollow articles requiring the entrance of that portion of the machine frame carrying the loop-taking mechanism.

-While the embodiment of the present improvement herein shown and described is deemed preferable, it is evident that the device is susceptible of material modification from the present disclosure without departure from the scope of the invention.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is:-

1. A work-h0lder comprising a buttonclamp formed with an aperture beneath the disposed beneath and sustained in laterally fixed relation with said button-clamp and having. upon its adjacent face a projection in register with the aperture of said buttonclamp. H

2. A work-holder comprising a buttonclamp formed with an elongated aperture beneath and centrally of its button recess, and a work supporting plate disposed be.- neath said button-clamp and having upon its upper face an'elongated projection conforming with the shape of the recess of said button-clamp and adapted to enter the same.

3. A work-holder comprising a buttonclamp formed with an elongated and downwardly-flaring aperture beneath and centrally of its button-recess, and a work-supportlng plate disposed beneath said buttonclamp.and having upon its upper face an elongated and upwardly tapering projection conforming 1n contour with the aperture of said button-clamp.

4.- In a button sewing machine, the own bination with stitch-forming mechanism, of

1,osc,'sos

a work-holder comprising a work-supportand a button-clamp overlying the same, and means carried by and rigidly connected with the work-support for opening the buttonhole when the clamp is lowered upon the 'a work-supporting plate disposed beneath said button-clamp and having upon its ad jacent face a projection in register with the aperture of said button-clamp, and means for. producing relative jogging movements between said work-holder and the stitchforming mechanism.

6. A work-holder comprising a carrier, a button-clamp mounted upon said carrier and formed with an aperture beneath and centrally of the button recess, and a work-supporting plate also secured to said carrier and disposed beneath the button-clamp and having upon the face adjacent the latter a projection in register with the aperture of the button-clamp.

7 A work-holder comprising a buttonclamp formed with an aperture beneath and centrally of the button recess, and a worksupporting plate disposed beneath said button-clamp and having upon its upper face a PI'OJBCtlOH in register with and the area of whose adjacent extremity does not exceed that of said aperture in the button-clamp.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

:GEORGE S. GATOHELL;

Witnesses:

H. A. KORNEMANN, W. P. STEWART addressing the Commissioner of Patents, 

